Green steel with hydrogen: German government aims to support ArcelorMittal projects
by Dagmar Dieterle
An important step on ArcelorMittal's path to climate-neutral steel: The German government announced the intention to fund ArcelorMittal Germany's transformation strategy for the production sites in Bremen, Eisenhüttenstadt and Hamburg as part of the “Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI)”. Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier and Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer confirmed this in a joint press conference. The planned transformation projects will also help enable climate-neutral production at the ArcelorMittal plant in Duisburg.
With the implementation of the three projects the company can save more than six million tons of CO2 annually by 2030, around 55 percent of the planned CO2 savings in the steel industry in Germany as part of the IPCEI program. The projects are now entering the next stage of the so-called “match making” process at European level. A final decision on funding and implementation is expected by the beginning of 2022.
"We very much welcome the German Government's decision to support our innovative projects. As a technology leader for climate-neutral steel production, our projects in Bremen, Eisenhüttenstadt and Hamburg make an important contribution to significantly reducing CO2 emissions in our German plants before 2030. The funding of our hydrogen-based processes for the production of climate-neutral steel is crucial. In the next step we need EU approval so that the investments can be made. In addition, start-up financing of production costs will be necessary until the new technologies become economically self-carrying. We are working on this together with the countries in the EU in which we operate", comments Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO ArcelorMittal Europe.
ArcelorMittal is planning innovative direct reduction of iron ore (DRI for short) and the use of smart carbon technologies throughout Europe in order to produce steel in a climate-neutral manner. In Germany, ArcelorMittal is focusing on the innovative direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen. This requires the construction of direct reduction plants and electric arc furnaces, as well as the development of electrolysis capacities and a functioning hydrogen infrastructure. To ensure that green hydrogen is available in sufficient quantities and at competitive prices in the future, ArcelorMittal is also participating in the establishment of regional hydrogen networks as part of the IPCEI process. Participations include the Hamburg hydrogen network and the North German hydrogen project "Clean Hydrogen Coastline".
Photo: Fotolia and ArcelorMittal